The Price of Winter
by xxxmoonwillowxxx
Summary: Lydia Martin must venture into the woods to the witches if she is to save her village. But on the way she encounters the werewolf Peter Hale. Fear and flee the wolf for worst of all the wolf may be more than he seems. The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he's as cunning as he is ferocious; once he's had a taste of flesh then nothing else will do.


So this is my first Pydia fanfic and I was pretty apprehensive about writing this because I think Peter and Lydia have such a complex interesting dynamic that is pretty hard to capture and I really wanted to do it justice. So this fic is red riding hood themed :) one of my favorite fairy tales which I think suits Peter and Lydia well however there is no Grandma in this story I'm afraid. So I hope you enjoy it.

And I don't own any of the characters or Teen Wolf :)

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The wolf-

Winter seeps into the small village of Beacon Hills; frosting over the lake, hardening the Earth and covering the ground in a thick blanket of snow. In this region of mountain and forest there is nothing for the wolves to eat. The Goats, cows and sheep are locked up safely in their pens and the deer have departed for the remaining harsh months to the southern slopes. So the wolves grow restless and famished. One beast and only one howls into the woods by night. The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he's as cunning as he is ferocious; once he's had a taste of flesh then nothing else will do.

You are always in danger in the forest where the beasts roam; was what Lydia Martin had been told for all sixteen summers of her life. Wander into the great pines and the sharp branches will tangle about you, trapping the wary traveler as if the forest itself were conspiring with the wolves that live there. As if the wicked trees go hunting on behalf of their allies. "Step through the forest with the greatest trepidation and infinite precautions, for if you stray from the path for one instant the wolves will eat you." Her mother had warned her while handing her the basket she had woven. It was filled with various salted meats, milk, bread, cheeses and jams which she had been instructed by her father in his sickbed to take to the witches that lived deep in the heart of the forest. It was an exchange for their protection from the wolves and other beastly things that hid in the dark bosom of the forest. A treaty that had been in place long before any of the villagers had been born. A time where the Earth bled and the wolves never grew hungry.

However this time was different. It was usually a young boy named Scott McCall's duty to bring supplies to the witches. However as winter had swept into the village, so had a plague that had struck more than half of the village including Scott Mcall. Children do not stay young for long in this savage country many don't survive into adulthood. But Lydia, the only child of the Martins, who had been indulged by her mother who had knitted her the hooded cloak that was as red as blood on snow, shunned by her father who wished for a son; had survived. A lot of the young children and the elderly had been too weak to fight off the infection and had died. Lydia was one of the few people in the village that the disease hadn't touched she must have been immune. Her father had scowled at her as he lay sick in a makeshift bed in the village hall and called her a witch. Lydia the small thing she was had never gotten sick. So it was up to her to make the exchange with the witches and beg them for a cure for the sickness. As no one else was strong enough or brave enough to venture through the woods on the path fused with mountain ash to the witches.

Lydia wavered between the village and the path that lead through the forest. The limbs and branches of the trees curved overhead creating a tunnel like structure that seemed to stretch on endlessly into the morning fog. "Scared already?" came an arrogant male voice from behind her.

Lydia jumped at the sound of his voice and spun around, quickly composing herself by holding her chin up high as if she were balancing something there. Flicking her strawberry blonde curls over her slender shoulder she huffed "Jackson." As she eyed the Whittemore boy up and down. He was the same age as her and was fairly handsome with his dark blonde hair, strong jaw line and sky blue eyes; not to mention his family's considerable wealth. Her father was already arranging a marriage between them. Lydia supposed she could bring herself to love him someday but Jackson was arrogant, vain, self-centered and he would never be able to love her like she wanted to be loved.

"Well I better go. Not all of the villagers have enough money to escape to the town away from the sickness. " Lydia said bitterly. Jackson's mocking smile quickly turned into an annoyed frown.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean for it to sound so mean." Lydia said, but deep down Lydia did mean for it to sound bitter. The whole of Jackson's family were evacuating to the city until the sickness was eradicated. They hadn't lifted a single finger to help the village people.

"Just don't get lost. No other girl in this village is as beautiful as you. " Jackson interrupted meaning to compliment her but Lydia tried hard to swallow her disgust. She was far more than a pretty face; she had a higher IQ than the whole village put together. If she were a man her father would have sent her to the city to study and she could have become a philosopher, a scientist or a doctor. The possibilities were endless. But she was born a woman and therefore was destined to be Jackson's wife; to cook his meals, clean his house, bare his children and to obey him in all things and that made Lydia resent Jackson. Turning her back on the glaring Jackson, Lydia took a deep breath to calm her, and then ventured warily into the forest.

After ten minutes of walking on the path Lydia began to feel as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders and her trepidation and fear slowly started to cascade away like water over a rock. Having spent all of her life trapped in the village it felt good to observe the new scenery. The sun was beginning to rise higher in the cloudless sky; shedding strips of light through the fog was starting to lift, small animals scurried into bushes looking for food and birds began to sing their morning tunes. Lydia swung her basket backward and forth and began to hum along with them until a noise too loud to be a small animal broke her out of her sense of peace and freedom.

Snapping her head to the side she searched frantically for the source of the noise but saw nothing. Lydia shook her head and continued walking a little faster than before down the path. "Hello there" a smooth velvety voice called out suddenly, causing Lydia to shriek in terror. Spinning in the direction of the sound Lydia saw a fairly tall, incredibly handsome, well built young man who was probably a couple of years older than her that was looking at her almost predatorily with his icy, piercing blue eyes. It was then that Lydia noticed that he was outside of the mountain ash path and her heart began to speed up. Fear and flee the wolf for worst of all the wolf may be more than he seems.

A fragile little thing, the young man thought. The closer she got the more he saw how beautiful she was with her ivory skin, long strawberry blonde hair that fell about her lovely face and out of the crimson cloak in loose curls. Her large eyes as green as the forest looked startled and frightened like a doe that had just realized it had wandered from the herd and had come face to face with a predator. Yet what drew him to her the most was her extraordinarily fleshy mouth, a mouth with wide, full, prominent lips that he longed to taste against his own.

"Nice cloak." He said, but his icy blue eyes never left her startled green ones.

"Thankyou" Lydia said shakily trying to collect herself and seem braver than she really felt.

The man smiled at her wolfishly. "So what's a beautiful young creature such as yourself doing in the woods?" he said casually.

"Really" Lydia said exasperatedly at his question raising her eyebrows.

The man raised his own eyebrows at her in amusement "Well it's just I've only ever seen one other villager pass through here. It's rather curious." He reasoned, gauging her reaction carefully.

"I have an acute phobia of people prying into my personal life." Lydia said sardonically. "Coming to the woods was my way of escaping them. Clearly it wasn't a proper solution. What about you?" Lydia said glaring right at him.

The man laughed at her boldness. The other human was terrified of him and he enjoyed messing around with him but it was refreshing to talk to someone else other than his family and the gormless Mcall boy. "I'm compulsively drawn to cute but narcissistic girls." He retorted his icy blue eyes mocking her. Lydia stared at him completely bewildered. No one had insulted her before except for her father. Men and boys worshiped the ground she walked on; even Jackson wouldn't say something like that to her. Huffing she spun on her heel and continued on her walk, the young man's laughter at her actions ringing in her ears.

"I'm Peter Hale by the way. What's your name?" The young man called after her. But Lydia just continued walking deciding to ignore him. You shouldn't talk to beasts.

"I don't frighten you do I?" he said haughtily, quickly catching up with her until they were walking side by side.

"My mother told me not to talk to strangers and particularly to stay away from werewolves. Now leave me alone, I don't wish to die by being eaten by a werewolf." Lydia said exasperated with him.

Peter laughed bemusedly "Well I introduced myself to you so therefore we are no longer strangers. And I may be a werewolf but I am also a gentleman and I wouldn't dream of harming a woman and besides werewolves don't actually eat people. Well only the uncivilized ones." Lydia glanced at him warily out of the corner of her eye, he hadn't been particularly threatening towards her but then again he could just be tricking her. Luring her into a false sense of security before he pounced for the kill. So she stubbornly ignored him.

"Would you speak to me?!" Peter said exasperatedly running his fingers through his dark brown hair his strong jaw clenching in his irritation.

"Ah to speak. But sir my gender are expected to be silent" Lydia said snidely focusing on the path ahead.

"Oh I would hear you speak if it cost me my fangs." Peter said gazing at her admirably enjoying her witty remarks. Lydia smiled slightly beneath her hood at his statement.

"Tell me your name." Peter demanded staring at her like she was some complex riddle.

"Would you care if I were ugly?" Lydia said randomly breaking out of her silence.

"Well, yes. I mean no. I mean if….. Just tell me your name woman." Peter proclaimed impatiently.

Lydia smirked she knew she now had the upper hand and it brought her satisfaction that she now had power over this dangerous creature "And what would you do with my name wolf? Call me a doe for that is all I am to you" Lydia said teasingly.

"A doe! Well then a doe you shall be until I find your name." Peter declared as a small cottage began to appear at the end of the path. He took one long last appreciating look at her then disappeared back in to the woods. Lydia frowned at his sudden disappearance then let out a deep breath she didn't know that she had been holding. He didn't seem as terrifying as the tales had proclaimed but she knew personally that appearances where deceiving. That was just his human form and Lydia was curious and frightened to know what he looked like on a full moon. Gathering her thoughts and the last of her courage she began to walk quickly towards the ominous witch's cottage.

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Okay so I hope you enjoyed it I'm working on chapter two right now so I should get that up soon xxxxx


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